System and method for find and deliver service

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes systems, methods and apparatus for finding and delivering a desired item, including unique or hard-to-find items. In one example, there is provided a method that includes receiving a request to find the item and broadcasting the request. The method includes receiving responses to the broadcasted request, the responses indicating a finding of the item and including a bid to sell the item. The method includes providing purchase options for the item to a source of the request based on the received responses, and receiving, from the source of the request, a selection of a purchase option from among the purchase options provided to the source. The method includes providing instructions to a provider of the selected purchase option based on the received selection.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57. Thisapplication claims the benefit of U.S. Application No. 61/976,986, filedApr. 8, 2014, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated byreference in their entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to product provision and morespecifically to a system and method of finding and delivering a desireditem, including a process for finding and/or creating unique orhard-to-find items.

BACKGROUND

Shoppers who try to locate hard-to-find or best-value items for purchaseoften spend much of their time visiting brick and mortar stores (e.g.,retail stores, flea markets, yard sales, estate sales, specialty shops,etc.) and/or using the internet to search for such items. This can be atime consuming process for the shopper and may not connect the shopperwith other parties (e.g., self-designated specialty searchers, shoppers,and/or middlemen) who would be willing to engage in the search processand provide a service to help with the search. Moreover, shoppers maynot reach the largest audience of potential suppliers or sellers.Additionally, some shoppers who are trying to locate and purchasecertain items may want to remain anonymous or want to be avirtual/anonymous purchaser, as opposed to a known or identifiablebuyer. Also, a shopper may wish to pay for the desired item via atrust-worthy third-party who can ensure a high degree of anonymity forthe shopper.

SUMMARY

Various implementations of systems, methods and devices within the scopeof the appended claims each have several aspects, no single one of whichis solely responsible for the desirable attributes described herein.Without limiting the scope of the appended claims, some prominentfeatures are described herein.

One aspect of this disclosure provides an apparatus and method forfacilitating a search for a desired item. The apparatus may include amemory unit. The apparatus may further include a processor operativelycoupled to the memory unit. The processor may be configured to receive arequest to find the item, and broadcast the request. The processor maybe further configured to receive responses to the broadcasted request,the responses indicating a finding of and/or an ability to provide theitem and including a bid to sell the item, and provide purchase optionsand/or delivery options for the item to a source of the request based onthe received responses. The processor may be further configured toreceive, from the source of the request, a selection of a purchaseoption from among the purchase options provided to the source, andprovide instructions to a provider of the selected purchase option basedon the received selection. In related aspects, a method performingfunctions of the apparatus is also provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for a Seek-Find-DeliverService (SFDS).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another exemplary system for SFDS.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an exemplary method for facilitating asearch for a desired item, in accordance with one or more aspects ofthis disclosure.

FIGS. 4-7 show further aspects of the exemplary method of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of exemplary embodiments of theinvention and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in whichthe invention may be practiced. The term “exemplary” used throughoutthis description means “serving as an example, instance, orillustration,” and should not necessarily be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other exemplary embodiments. The detailed descriptionincludes specific details for the purpose of providing a thoroughunderstanding of the exemplary embodiments of the invention. In someinstances, some devices are shown in block diagram form.

While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies areshown and described as a series of acts, it is to be understood andappreciated that the methodologies are not limited by the order of acts,as some acts may, in accordance with one or more aspects, occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown anddescribed herein. For example, those skilled in the art will understandand appreciate that a methodology could alternatively be represented asa series of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram.Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement amethodology in accordance with one or more aspects.

While the internet has provided shoppers with more options than had beenpreviously available (e.g., online shopping and auction sites) andalternatives to visiting brick and mortar stores, shoppers may stillhave to spend their time visiting multiple stores or online sites,particularly for unique or hard-to-find items. To overcome such issues,this disclosure describes improvements below. In this disclosure, thefollowing described methods and approaches below can be used solely orin any combination.

Described herein is a Seek-Find-Deliver Service (SFDS) for findingunique or ordinary items desired by a requester of a desired item,including virtual items, finding the best value for the item, andfacilitating payments/transactions to obtain the item. In relatedaspects, the SFDS technique may keep the requester of the given itemanonymous to the provider if so desired. In further related aspects, incertain implementations, the deliver/shipping feature of the SFDStechnique may be optional, such that the SFDS technique includes theseek-and-find features without the delivery/shipping features.

For example, a requester or user of the SFDS may access a portal orapplication via local or remote computing device(s), and then identifyor describe an item they wish to obtain, such as a product or service.In some instances, the portal may be a kiosk or other computing devicedesigned for use with SFDS. For example, the portal may be situated in apost office or other location and may be suitable for performing avariety of functions, including, without limitation: receiving SFDSrequests; verifying identities of SFDS requesters and/or authorizedproviders; matching providers to requesters; printing unique SFDSbarcodes or other labels; printing receipts; and receiving payment. Inan exemplary embodiment, a requester may use a portal to provideidentifying information, such as a model number, a textual description,specifications, a photograph, drawing, description, other desiredcharacteristics, and the like, and/or submit a request for an item. Theportal may receive payment from the user via a user interface and printor electronically send a receipt to the user with a unique computerreadable code, such as a barcode, a Quick Response (QR) code, or thelike, or other identifying information to allow the user to track therequest. In another exemplary embodiment, a provider may use a portal torespond to requests and/or receive documents and/or other materials forfulfilling a request. For example, a provider may access a portal tosearch for requests that the provider would like to respond to. Theportal may display requests in anonymized form (e.g., withoutidentifying the source of the request). In some instances, the portalmay request identifying information from the provider to determine whichrequests the provider may have access to. After the provider has beenapproved to respond to a request, the portal may print and/orelectronically send a unique identifier for use in sending the requesteditem.

The requester may input various descriptors about the item, as well as amaximum price they are willing to pay for the item. The requested itemmay be a unique, difficult-to-find item or an ordinary,readily-available item. It is noted that a requester may use the SFDSfor an ordinary item to obtain multiple bids from multiple providers,and thereby identify the lowest market price for the item. In relatedaspects, the requester may limit the number of potential providers ofthe item by including various criteria, such as, for example,geographic/location limitations, previous experience of the provider, arespond-no-later-than date, etc. In some embodiments, the SFDS and/orthe requester may set a limit on the number of responses that will bepresented to the requester (e.g., the first ten responses, the firstthirty responses, or some other predefined number/limit), such that theSFDS service does not become overloaded with too many responses.

The request may be broadcast to other entities, such as, for example,suppliers, vendors, distributors, and/or manufacturers of the item, aswell as search service providers, middlemen, and/or the like. In oneimplementation, the request for the item may be posted in a forum, openor closed, such that the other entities may search for and offer tosupply the item to the requester, such as, for example, by submittingproposals or responses to the request.

The requester may purchase the item via a payment portal and optionallypay for the postage/shipping to have the item transmitted to thedelivery point of the requester from a provider entity. This may involveproduction of a label with a unique identifying barcode, or similaridentifier, for the transmission or shipping of the item to the deliverypoint (e.g., household address, P.O. Box, virtual P.O. Box, etc.), withor without the provider of the item and/or the SFDS service knowingdetails indicative of the source of the request, such as, for example,an identity of the requester and/or the delivery point for the requesteditem. In related aspects, identity of the requester may be withheld fromthe provider by generating anonymized information based on removingelements indicative of the source of the request, and broadcasting theanonymized information. In some instances, anonymized information may begenerated through use of a hash function. For example, a user may inputidentifying information to a portal and the portal may apply a hashfunction to the inputted information to produce a hash index (i.e.,anonymized information) that is unique to the user but does not identifythe user. The hash function may be any calculation that sufficientlymasks the user's identity. In this example, the hash function may beused to reverse the process and determine the user from the anonymizedinformation. When a user's request has been matched to a provider, theportal may supply the hash index to the provider. However, the providermay not have access to the hash function and thus may not be able todetermine the identity of the user from the hash index. When theprovider sends the item for delivery, the Post Office or other deliveryservice may have access to the hash function and can identify the userbased on the hash index provided by the provider.

The service technique described herein changes the dynamic from ascenario where the requester has to research and cost-compare sources ofthe item to a scenario where the requester is offered the product frommultiple providers or sources without having to allocate his/her time,efforts, and/or resources to locating the item from various sources(e.g., to find the best price). Not only does this save the requestertime, the resulting competition among potential providers of the itemmay fuel pricing competition as the providers submit their responses tothe request. Moreover, improved anonymity may be provided to therequester via the SFDS system/apparatus since the requester does notneed to communicate directly with the providers, thereby greatlyreducing or removing the possibility of the provider obtaining the IPaddress or other potentially identifying information about therequester.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system 100 that mayimplement one or more aspects of the SFDS techniques described herein.The system 100 may include a requester entity or request source 110 incommunication with an SFDS server 120 or the like, or in communicationwith a plurality of servers 120, although one server is illustrated inFIGS. 1-2 for simplicity. The server 120 may be communication with oneor more potential provider entities 140 a-n of the item (e.g.,suppliers, vendors, manufacturers, middlemen, etc.).

In related aspects, the requester 110 may communicate with the server120 via a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), suchas, for example, the internet. For example, the requester 110 maycommunicate with the server 120 via a website or a mobile app, or via akiosk at a SFDS service center or postal service facility. In anotherexample, the requester 110 may communicate with the SFDS via telephoneor mail. An entity at an SFDS site may receive information from therequester 110 and input the received information into the SFDS server120 or the like. The entity at the SFDS site may be a customer servicerepresentative or employee of the SFDS. In the alternative, or inaddition, the entity may utilize or include voicerecording/transcription device (for phone calls) and/or opticalcharacter recognition (OCR) device, or the like.

In further related aspects, the server 120, or components thereof, mayreceive a request to find and/or provide a desired item from therequester 110, and in turn broadcast the request to the providers 140a-n. The server 120 may receive responses to the broadcasted requestfrom one or more of the providers 140 a-n, each response indicating afinding of and/or an ability to provide the item and including a bid tosell the item. For example, the server 120 may broadcast the request byposting the request on a website accessible by the providers 140 a-n. Inanother example, the server 120 may communicate directly with one ormore of the providers 140 a-n.

The server 120 may receive responses to the broadcasted request from oneor more of the providers 140 a-n, the responses indicating a finding ofor an ability to provide the item and including a bid to sell the item.The server 120 may provide delivery options for the item to a source ofthe request (i.e., the requester 110) based on the received responses.The server 120 may receive, from the requester 110, a selection of adelivery option from among the delivery options provided to therequester 110, and may provide instructions to a provider (e.g., aselected one of the providers 140 a-n) of the selected delivery optionbased on the received selection. In some embodiments, the deliveryoptions may include a method of delivery, a time of delivery, an arequest for an anonymous transaction, a delivery entity, and/or purchaseoptions, as described elsewhere herein.

In some embodiments, a bid from a provider may include a variety ofinformation, including, without limitation: an offered price; anestimated delivery date; a condition of the item; and a compensation tobe provided if the item is unsatisfactory. In a related aspect, aprovider's bid may also include information about the provider, such asthe provider's company name and reliability information. For example,when a provider bids to provide an item, information about theprovider's reliability on previous bids may be provided along with thebid. In some aspects, to maintain provider anonymity, a portal may notshow a requester all information that the portal has received about theprovider. In some of these aspects, the portal may use such informationto create a score for the provider that can be shown to the requesterwithout disclosing the provider's identity. For example, if a providerworks for XYZ Company, the portal may show the requester a scoreregarding what percentage of bids from XYZ company result in asuccessful delivery, but does not disclose that the bid is from XYZCompany. In another example, if a provider is located in Los Angeles,but prefers the location to remain anonymous, the provider may calculatea score, from 1 to 10, or provide time estimates of shipping, to show tothe requester to indicate how far the item would have to travel toarrive at the requester. In a related aspect, a portal may performcalculations on information from the provider to generate an overallscore for the provider for a particular request, thus creating asortable list for the requester to review. In some of these aspects, ifa provider's score is below a given threshold, the provider's bid maynot be shown to the requester.

In yet further related aspects, the server 120 may include a processoror controller 122 in operative communication with a transmitter unit 124and a receiver unit 126, which facilitate wired or wirelesscommunication with the other entities in the system 100, including butnot limited to the requester 110, the providers 140 a-n, and optionalthird-party entities 150 a-b, over one or more communication networks.The processor 122 may be in operative communication with a memory unit123 with instructions for coordinating the SFDS operations, including,for example, the methodologies described below with reference to FIGS.3-7.

In still further related aspects, the server 120 may include a paymentprocessing module 128 for processing payments by the requester 110and/or the provider 140. The payment processing module 128 mayoptionally store information about an escrow account for the transactionbetween the parties, and may optionally operate in conjunction with athird-party entity 150 to process payments and coordinate the transferof funds by the parties.

The server 120 may include a shipping processing module 130 forgenerating bar codes or the like associated with the transactions and/orgenerating shipping labels with such bar codes. The server 120 mayoptionally operate in conjunction with a third-party entity 150 tohandle the shipping of the desired item from a provider 140 to therequester 110. In some embodiments, the server 120 may be associatedwith a printer 136 for printing bar codes and/or other identifyinginformation.

It is noted that the SFDS server 120 may perform the payment processing,shipping processing, as well as other features, alone or in conjunctionwith other server(s) 120. For example, the server(s) may be operated bya postal service entity, a courier service entity, a shipment serviceentity, etc. It is also noted that the server 120 may operate inconjunction with one or more third-party entities 150 a-b to perform oneor more of the features that would otherwise be performed by the paymentprocessing module 128, the shipping processing module 130, etc.

In related aspects, the server 120 may optionally include an optionaltransaction data anonymizer 132 for protecting the identities of therequester 110 and/or the provider 140. That is, the anonymizer 132 maygenerate anonymized information based on removing elements indicative ofthe source of the request and/or the response to the request or byapplying a hash function to the request. In one aspect, the anonymizer132, alone or in conjunction with the processor 122, is configured todetect and remove data in the request for the item that reveals theidentity of the source or a delivery point for the item, such as, forexample, names, email addresses, user IDs, social networkinginformation, user device fingerprints, Internet Protocol (IP addresses),mailing address information (e.g., street, city, county, state, and zipcode), phone numbers, area codes, or the like. In another aspect, theanonymizer 132 and/or the processor 122 encrypts or otherwise encodessome or all of such detected data in such a way that only authorizedparties (e.g., the SFDS provider) can decode and read the encrypteddata. In yet another aspect, the anonymizer 132 and/or the processor 122assigns a unique identifier to the transaction between the requestsource and item provider, wherein the unique identifier is randomlygenerated or created based on a cryptographic hash function performed onone or more of the data provided by the request source or the itemprovider. In still another aspect, the anonymizer 132 and/or theprocessor 122 extracts a subset of the received information regardingthe item, the extracted subset not indicative of an identity of thesource, and supplements the extracted subset with other transaction datanot indicative of the identity of the source (e.g., data and time).

It is noted that one or more of the features of the SFDS techniquedescribed herein may be performed by the processor 122 alone or inconjunction with the payment processing module 128, the shippingprocessing module 130, and/or the transaction data anonymizer 132.Similarly, the one or more of the features of the SFDS techniquedescribed herein may be performed by the payment processing module 128,the shipping processing module 130, and/or the transaction dataanonymizer 132, separately or in conjunction with the processor 122. Itis further noted that the components/modules of the server 120 mayoptionally communicate and operate in conjunction with one or morethird-party entities (e.g., entities 150 a-b) to perform one or more ofthe features of the SFDS technique described herein.

It is also noted that the server 120 may include an optionalmonitoring/screening module 134 to ensure that the SFDS service is safeand not used to engage in illegal activities. In related aspects, theSFDS service may have the suppliers, vendors, etc. go through theprocess of registering, and identifying themselves before they canqualify as providers 140 a-n. For example, the monitoring/screeningmodule 134 may provide authentication and screening of potentialproviders (e.g., background checks or the like). If the given entitypasses the screening and is registered, the given entity may beauthorized to participate as a provider 140 under the SFDS service.Similarly, the monitoring/screening module 134 may screen the requester110 and have the requester 110 register before utilizing the SFDSservice. In further related aspects, the monitoring/screening module 134may optionally monitor the activities of the requester 110 and theproviders 140 a-n to prevent the use of the SFDS service to purchaseillegal items (e.g., street drugs) or otherwise engage in illegalactivity.

The controller 122, alone or in conjunction with the optionalmonitoring/screening module 134, may be configured to collect and storeinformation about the requester 110 and/or the providers 140 a-n in thememory 123. This way, the requester 110 and/or the providers 140 a-n donot have to repeatedly input the same data. In one aspect, theinformation about the requester 110 and/or the providers 140 a-n iscollected and stored during the screening and/or registration processperformed by the monitoring/screening module 134. In another aspect, thecontroller 122 and/or the monitoring/screening module 134 may beconfigured to provide a graphical user interface (GUI) to the requester110 and/or the providers 140 a-n to allow the parties to create a userid and password create an SFDS account. Information about the registeredparties may be securely stored in the memory 123 of the server 120and/or other servers operated by an SFDS entity, its affiliates, orother third parties. In yet another aspect, the controller 122 and/orthe monitoring/screening module 134 may be configured to give therequester 110 and/or the providers 140 a-n the option to opt-in tohaving their respective information stored by the SFDS entity, itsaffiliates, or other third parties. This way, the storage of informationabout the requester 110 and the providers 140 a-n would be at the optionof the requester 110 and the providers 140 a-n, respectively.

In further related aspects, FIG. 1 shows a system 100 wherein thepayment processing module 128, the shipping processing module 130, andthe transaction data anonymizer 132 are part of the server 120. It isnoted, however, that one or more of the functions performed by themodules/components of the server 120 in FIG. 1 may be performed by oneor more entities that are external or separate from the server 120, andthat may be in communication with the server 120 or components thereof.For example, FIG. 2 shows an example system 200 having a paymentprocessing entity 210 and a shipping processing entity 220 that areseparate from but operative in conjunction with the server 120. Theother entities and features of the system 200 are more or less the sameas the system 100 of FIG. 1.

In still further related aspects, the SFDS service or portions thereofmay be facilitated through a postal service and/or in partnership withone or more external sites or service providers. In further relatedaspects, the value to the service user or requester 110 is that theysimply have to send a request for the desired item, while theprovider(s) 140 spend the time and put forth the effort to locate theitem. In still further related aspects, the SFDS service may broadcastthe request to a wider network of potential providers 140, includingproviders that requester does not know of, who in turn may communicatewith additional potential providers or suppliers of the item. Not onlydoes this increase the probability of finding the item, it may alsoresult in pricing-competition among the providers 140, which may drivedown the price/cost of the item for the requester 110.

In one illustrative example, a shopper 110 may wish to buy a unique orspecific item, such as, for example a gold-plated Santa Claus figurine.Typically, the shopper 110 would search many different sites and/orstores trying to find the item, as well as the best value for the itemif found. Even when the shopper 110 does find the item, and even whenthe shopper 110 compares pricing or uses sites that compare the pricing,the shopper 110 may still wonder if he/she has considered all of thepotential providers 140 a-n of the item and whether he/she is gettingthe best value. With one implementation of the SFDS techniques describedherein, the shopper 110 may simply go to a SFDS website or use an SFDSapp on their personal computing device to submit their request, such as,for example, by posting that they want to buy the item, e.g., thegold-plated Santa Claus figurine. The shopper 110 may providedescriptors or criteria, such as, for example, that the figurine must beat least 16-18 inches in height, must be in excellent condition, etc.The shopper 110 may indicate a price that he/she is willing to pay forthe item. Such information may be posted via the website or app, and beavailable to the providers 140 a-n (e.g., all available providers or asubset of the providers based on the criteria submitted by theshopper/requester). The information that is broadcast or posted foraccess by the providers 140 a-n may be anonymized (e.g., by theanonymizer 132 or the like) to remove elements indicative of the sourceof the request for the figurine or the requester's identity.

In related aspects, the requester may visit a SFDS website or the liketo register for the SFDS service. The SFDS website may optionally invokean identity verification process in order to know that the personregistering as the requester is the actual person. Such a process mayinclude registration with a credit card or other payment information tosetup the account with a service provider, such as, for example, apostal service entity or the like.

In further related aspects, various entities in the general public, suchas suppliers and/or middlemen (collectively referred to herein asproviders), may see the request for the gold-plated Santa Claus, and maylook for this item. When a provider 140 finds and/or creates the item ordetermines that the item matches product(s) in inventory, the provider140 may submit an online response via the SFDS system, therebyindirectly to the requester 110 of the gold-plated Santa Claus. Theresponse comprises an offer and may include a product description, apicture, and pricing. The pricing may be open or closed, meaning thatother providers can see the pricing (if the pricing is open) and offermore competitive pricing. If the requester 110 decides on or selects aparticular item from a particular provider, he/she may accept the offerand request the item be mailed to a destination point, such as, forexample, by the postal service or the like.

For example, the provider 140 may print out a postage/mailing label,generated through a postal service site or the like (e.g., by theshipping processing module 130 or the shipping processing entity 220),and then apply the label to the package with the item. The label mayinclude an identifier, such as, for example, an Intelligent Mail Packagebarcode (IMpb), an Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb), or the like(depending on what is being sent) for tracking of the item by the SFDSservice (collectively referred to herein as SFDS types of barcodes). Theidentifier may include or otherwise be cross-referenced with a servicetype ID. The use of such identifiers or barcodes facilitates maintainingthe anonymity of the requester(s) 110 and/or provider(s) 140 of item(s)processed by the SFDS system (e.g., system 100 or 200 or variationsthereof).

In some aspects, barcodes may be any representations of data for use infacilitating transfer of goods and/or information in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure. For example, a barcode may be aphysical representation of data printed on paper or an object and may bereadable by a machine or other reader. In an alternative example, abarcode or other computer readable code may be a virtual representationof data which may be displayed, for example, on a computer screen andmay be readable by a machine or other reader. In an embodiment, abarcode may facilitate maintaining anonymity of a user by providing acoded representation of data. A barcode or other computer readable codemay be created through use of a hash function or other computation tocreate a representation of data that may not be readable without usingthe particular hash function or computation used to create it.

In related aspects, a label may have more than one computer readablecode thereon, and each barcode may convey different information. Forexample, a requester's address may be communicated by one computerreadable code, the requester's name may be communicated by a secondcomputer readable code, and an address of a shipping facility may be athird computer readable code. In this example, each computer readablecode may be readable by a single t type of machine, or reader. In someembodiments, the computer readable codes may be of different types,requiring different machines or readers to read the information encodedtherein. In a related aspect, a single computer readable code may conveya different amount of information based on a specific machine or readerused. For example, a particular reader may be suitable for interpretinga portion of a computer readable code but not the entire computerreadable code. In this way, levels of exclusivity may be createdregarding requester and/or provider information to maintain each user'sanonymity.

For example, when the postal service encounters an SFDS type of barcodeon the label of the package (containing the desired item) from theprovider 140, the item may be identified based on the labeling,regardless of whether the labeling has an address printed on it. Theinformation encoded within or cross-referenced with the barcode may besent to a printer or to a work station, which may then print a name andaddress label that may be applied to the package for routing anddelivery to the requester. In this example, a distribution network, suchas a postal or delivery service may have access to the hash function orcomputation needed to determine the identifying information of therequester (e.g., a reader designed to decode the barcode on thepackage), but the provider would not have access to the hash function.

In yet further related aspects, the SFDS type of barcode may encode orotherwise be cross-referenced with the routing ZIP code (e.g., a 5 digitZIP code), so the package or mail-piece with the label may get to itsfinal destination via a postal service, a courier service, a shipmentservice, etc. For example, when a post service employee scans thebarcode, a label may be generated and added to the mail-piece, whichwill facilitate delivery to the destination.

In other related aspects, a virtual label or identifier may be used fortransferring virtual data. For example, a requester may request avirtual item, such as a short story in electronic form. A provider mayview the anonymized request through use of a portal and make a bid usingthe portal. If the requester selects the provider to provide the item,the portal may provide an anonymous e-mail address and/or a uniquevirtual label to the provider. The provider may access or create theshort story and send it to the electronic address with or without alabel. In some instances, a virtual label may be attached to anelectronic item or the electronic item may be attached to the label. Ina non-limiting example, the provider may send an electronic document viae-mail to the postal service or other recipient and the e-mail may havea unique label or identifier as an attachment. The label may include amachine-readable barcode (e.g., using a physical barcode reader) toallow the recipient to forward the electronic document to the requester.

In related aspects, payment to the provider 140 may be deferred asfollows. When recipient requester 110 gets the particular package,he/she may verify that the received item is in fact the desired orrequested item. If the requester 110 is satisfied with the receiveditem, and notifies the SFDS system (e.g., via a website, a mobile app,or phone call), the SFDS system may generate a release of the paymentfor the item that has been held in an escrow account or the like. Whenthe payment funds are released from escrow account, the paymentinformation may be sent to the provider 140 via a secure hash algorithm(SHA) or the like (e.g., performed by the anonymizer 132 and/or theprocessor 122 as described above), such that the requester 110 and theprovider 140 may remain anonymous to each other.

If there is a delay of payment to the provider 140 or if the item is notacceptable to the requester 110, then the requester 110 may utilize theSFDS system to generate another label and return the item to the sender,via the SFDS intermediary system, and may optionally pay the postage forreturning the item, depending on the terms of the agreement between theparties. It is noted that the parties may negotiate and memorialize theterms of the agreement via the SFDS system. For example, the parties maypropose, accept, reject, or modify the terms of the agreement, via theSFDS system, during the request and response stages of the transactionor during any point during pendency of the transaction. For example, ifa dispute arises between the requester 110 and the provider 140 (e.g.,due to failure to pay for the item or fraudulent activity by one of theparties), an inspection service entity and/or an enforcement entity mayinvestigate and resolve the dispute between the requester 110 and theprovider 140. In one example, the inspection service entity and/or theenforcement entity may be part of or otherwise affiliated with the SFDSservice provider, such as a postal service entity, a courier serviceentity, a shipment service entity, etc. In another example, theinspection service entity and/or the enforcement entity may beindependent of or unaffiliated with the SFDS service provider.

Accordingly, benefits of the SFDS service may include, but are notlimited to, non-disclosure of the identifies of the requester 110 and/orthe provider 140, as well as the ability to post a narrative/descriptionregarding a desired item and to have the description go to an audience(e.g., the general community), who in turn may facilitate or themselvesengage in seeking and finding the item. The SFDS service may presentnumerous options to the requester 110 for purchasing the item, alongwith pricing and background information, images, etc. This in turn savesthe requester 110 from having to spend his/her time looking for the itemand conducting a price-comparison for the item. Instead, the burden offinding an item and obtaining pricing information for the item isshifted away for the requester 110 or prospective buyer, and shiftedtoward the provider(s) 140 (e.g., supplier, vendor, manufacturer,middleman, etc.) in the general community.

In view of exemplary systems shown and described herein, methodologiesthat may be implemented in accordance with the disclosed subject matterwill be better appreciated with reference to various flow charts(discussed below). While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation,methodologies are shown and described as a series of acts/blocks, it isto be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is notlimited by the number or order of blocks, as some blocks may occur indifferent orders and/or at substantially the same time with other blocksfrom what is depicted and described herein. Moreover, not allillustrated blocks may be required to implement methodologies describedherein. It is to be appreciated that functionality associated withblocks may be implemented by software, hardware, a combination thereofor any other suitable means (e.g., device, system, process, orcomponent). Additionally, it should be further appreciated thatmethodologies disclosed throughout this specification are capable ofbeing stored on an article of manufacture to facilitate transporting andtransferring such methodologies to various devices. Those skilled in theart will understand and appreciate that a methodology couldalternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states orevents, such as in a state diagram.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method 300 for facilitating asearch for a desired item. The steps illustrated in FIG. 3 may beperformed by an SFDS apparatus or the like, such as, for example, anSFDS server (e.g., the server 120 in FIGS. 1-2 or component(s) thereof).In one approach, the method 300 moves to block 310 and receives arequest to find the item. The method 300 then moves to block 320 andbroadcasts the request. The method 300 then moves to block 330 andreceives responses to the broadcasted request, the responses indicatinga finding of and/or an ability to provide the item and including a bidto sell the item. The method 300 then moves to block 340 and providespurchase options for the item to a source of the request based on thereceived responses. The method 300 then moves to block 350 and receives,from the source of the request, a selection of a purchase option fromamong the purchase options provided to the source. The method 300 thenmoves to block 360 and provides instructions to a provider of theselected purchase option based on the received selection.

With reference to FIGS. 4-7, there are shown further operations oraspects of the method 300 that are optional and are not required toperform the method 300. If the method 300 includes at least one block ofFIGS. 4-7, then the method 300 may terminate after the at least oneblock, without necessarily having to include any subsequent downstreamblock(s) that may be illustrated.

With reference to FIG. 4, the method 300 includes broadcasting therequest (block 320) by moving to block 370 and removing from the requestthose elements indicative of the source of the request, then moving toblock 372 and generating anonymized information from remaining elementsin the request, and then moving to block 374 and broadcasting theanonymized information. In other related aspects, the method 300 movesto block 380 and posts the request (e.g., in the form of the anonymizedinformation) on an Internet site.

With reference to FIG. 5, the method 300 moves to block 390 andfacilitates transmission of the item to the source of the request. Inone example, the method 300 moves to block 400 and generates a firstlabel having a first identifier associated with the provider, and thenmoves to block 402 and transmits to the provider a communicationregarding access to the first label. The method 300 then moves to block404 and generates a second label having a second identifier associatedwith the source of the request, in response to receiving the item withthe first label from the provider. The method 300 then moves to block406 and receives payment from the source or the provider for thetransmission of the item.

With reference to FIG. 6, the method 300 includes receiving the request(block 310) by moving to block 410 and providing, to the source of therequest, a GUI that receives information regarding the item inputtedinto the GUI by the source, such as, for example, the transaction terms(e.g., the price the requester is willing to pay for the item), etc.

In related aspects, the method 300 moves to block 420 and extracts asubset of the received information regarding the item, the extractedsubset not indicative of an identity of the source. The method 300 thenmoves to block 422 and supplements the extracted subset with othertransaction data not indicative of the identity of the source.

With reference to FIG. 7, the method 300 moves to block 430 and receivespayment for the item from the source of the request, and then moves toblock 432 and holds the payment in an escrow account or the like. Themethod 300 then moves to block 434 and receives a message from thesource indicating inspection and approval of the item from the provider,and then moves to block 436 and releases the payment to the provider ofthe item, in response to the inspection and the approval of the item bythe source.

It is noted that one or more processors of a server (e.g., the SFDSserver 120 in FIGS. 1-2), or servers in a distributed network, may beconfigured to perform method 300, including but not limited to blocks310-436, and variations thereof. With reference to the example systems100, 200 shown in FIGS. 1-2, one or more processors 122 may operate inconjunction with a memory unit 123 (e.g. with stored instructions and/ordata structures to be accessed by the one or more processors), atransceiver unit (or separate receiver unit 126 and transmitter unit 124as shown in FIGS. 1-2), specialized components/modules (e.g., thepayment processing module 128, the shipping processing module 130,and/or the transaction data anonymizer 132 in FIG. 1), and/or separateentities (e.g., the payment processing entity 210 and/or the shippingprocessing entity 220 in FIG. 2, as well as other third-party entities).

The foregoing description details certain embodiments of the systems,devices, and methods disclosed herein. It will be appreciated, however,that no matter how detailed the foregoing appears in text, the systems,devices, and methods can be practiced in numerous ways.

The technology is operational with numerous other general purpose orspecial purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with the developmentinclude, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers,hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, programmable consumer electronics, networkPCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computingenvironments that include any of the above systems or devices, and thelike.

As used herein, instructions refer to computer-implemented steps forprocessing information in the system. Instructions can be implemented insoftware, firmware or hardware and include any type of programmed stepundertaken by components of the system.

Those of skill will further recognize that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented aselectronic hardware, software stored on a computer readable medium andexecutable by a processor, or combinations of both. To clearlyillustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, variousillustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have beendescribed above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether suchfunctionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon theparticular application and design constraints imposed on the overallsystem. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality invarying ways for each particular application, but such embodimentdecisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from thescope of the present development.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implementedor performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), afield programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device,discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. The steps of a method or algorithm disclosedherein may be implemented in a processor-executable software modulewhich may reside on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable mediaincludes both computer storage media and communication media includingany medium that can be enabled to transfer a computer program from oneplace to another. A storage media may be any available media that may beaccessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, suchcomputer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or otheroptical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storagedevices, or any other medium that may be used to store desired programcode in the form of instructions or data structures and that may beaccessed by a computer. Also, any connection can be properly termed acomputer-readable medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includescompact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc(DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce datamagnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method oralgorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes andinstructions on a machine readable medium and computer-readable medium,which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

The foregoing description details certain embodiments of the systems,devices, and methods disclosed herein. It will be appreciated, however,that no matter how detailed the foregoing appears in text, the systems,devices, and methods can be practiced in many ways. As is also statedabove, it should be noted that the use of particular terminology whendescribing certain features or aspects of the development should not betaken to imply that the terminology is being re-defined herein to berestricted to including any specific characteristics of the features oraspects of the technology with which that terminology is associated.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if aspecific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such anintent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence ofsuch recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in generalsuch a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where aconvention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, ingeneral such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill inthe art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at leastone of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that haveA alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood toinclude the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and changes may be made without departing from the scopeof the described technology. Such modifications and changes are intendedto fall within the scope of the embodiments. It will also be appreciatedby those of skill in the art that parts included in one embodiment areinterchangeable with other embodiments; one or more parts from adepicted embodiment can be included with other depicted embodiments inany combination. For example, any of the various components describedherein and/or depicted in the figures may be combined, interchanged orexcluded from other embodiments.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for facilitating a search for a desireditem, comprising: receiving, via a user interface, a request from a userto find an item, the request including information regarding the userand regarding the item; broadcasting, via a user interface, the requestto a plurality of potential providers of the item; receiving, via a userinterface, responses to the broadcasted request from providers of theitem, the responses including information regarding the item, indicatingan ability to provide the item and including a bid for providing theitem to the user; providing, via a user interface, delivery options forthe item to the user based on the received responses; receiving, via auser interface, from the user, a selection of a delivery option fromamong the delivery options provided to the user; providing, via a userinterface, instructions to the provider of the selected delivery optionbased on the received selection; generating a first electronic deliverylabel including a first identifier, the first identifier includinganonymized delivery information; and transmitting information indicativeof the first electronic delivery label to the provider of the selecteddelivery option.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein broadcasting therequest comprises:: generating anonymized information, includingremoving elements of the information indicative of the user.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising generating a second identifierassociated with the user, in response to receiving the item with a labelwhich includes the transmitted information associated with the firstelectronic label from the provider.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising receiving payment from the user or the provider of theselected delivery option for the transmission of the item.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein, prior to receiving the request from the user, themethod further comprises providing, to the user, a graphical userinterface (GUI) that receives information regarding the item inputtedinto the GUI by the user.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:extracting a subset of the received information regarding the item, theextracted subset not indicative of an identity of the user; andsupplementing the extracted subset with other transaction data notindicative of the identity of the user.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving payment for the item from the user;holding the payment in an escrow account; receiving a message from theuser indicating user inspection and approval of the item received by theuser from the provider; and releasing the payment to the provider of theselected delivery option, in response to receipt of the messageindicating the inspection and the approval of the item by the user. 8.The method of claim 1, further comprising: monitoring at least one ofthe received request or the received responses to detect an illegalactivity; and suspending a transaction involving the at least one of thereceived request or the received responses, in response to detection ofthe illegal activity.